We often blindly trust on banks while taking loans for investing or buying property in India. But there are several credible information about which the loan seekers usually do not have any clue. Ideally the loan seeker should thoroughly research or go through each and every clause mention in the home loan document to avoid sudden surprises. Here are a few facts about home loans that a loan seeker must know before going ahead for a home loan.

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Here are some tips to help make finding the right home loan : –

1. Fixed Rate Home Loan

Fixed rates do not always mean fixed. If you are happy thinking that you have opted for a fixed rate, then please go through the loan documents very carefully again and again. Because most of the fixed rate loans are partially fixed during early stages. And there might be a clause in the document that if the existing loan rate gets increased beyond a limit, then the rate will be automatically changed into floating rates. This point allows banks to fix the rate of interest again after re-evaluating it. Therefore, it’s a must to check all the clauses before taking up a fixed rate loan.

If you have taken home loan prior to 2010, then you are evaluated on the basis of prime lending rate and not the base rates. Moreover, for those whose home loan rates are floating, they do not get the rate cut benefits on the basis of RBI repo rate cut. For example, RBI has cut the repo rates twice this year, but banks have not passed the reduce rate cut instantly. If there is a huge difference between the interest rate cut and the current rate, then the borrower can pay a certain amount and get switched to the base rates.

3. Home Loan Eligibility Calculator

Banks provide the loan amount, according to their own evaluation done by their experts on the respective property in India. Due to which borrowers often get disappointed with the loan amount offered by the bank. Depending on the price calculated by the bank, it usually offers 80% of the value of the property in India. Hence the buyers should not assume the loan amount, rather he or she should be more realistic.

4. The best EMI Option For Under-Construction Properties

If you are taking a loan for an under-construction property in India, then you are required to pay a pre-EMI for the amount that has been disbursed by the bank. But the bank doesn’t tell you much is the amount for Pre-EMI that you need to pay. Sometime Pre-EMI amount also gets increased. So this counts as an extra cost to the borrower, as this expense is an unplanned one. In this case, you can check with the bank if you can start paying your loan amount as soon as it gets disbursed. In this way, you save on paying the interest.

5. Property Registration Authority

Banks often seek for a provisional security for home loans about which the borrowers get to know on a later stage. After taking a loan for the home, the registration of the property in your name will take around 3-4 weeks and the borrower require money for the registration. But banks do not give loans without any security. This stands up as a problem for the buyer as many of them don’t have any other property to keep as a security to the bank.

Having one’s own garden is a distant dream for city dwellers of India. The acute space crunch followed by the lack of sunshine and time to tend to plants often takes a toll on the gardening wish list of home owners. However, here are a few tips that will allow owners of buy flats in Navi Mumbai or any other urban metropolitan area to have their own garden at home. It may not be like one that used to be there in your grandma’s backyard-but it will be your spot of cosiness nevertheless!

Select plants which do not take much space to grow

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Growing roses in a studio apartment is out of the question, hence you need to settle for small shrubs which look pretty yet take up little space to grow. There are quite a few plants that can be tried out for properties in Navi Mumbai such as daylilies, oleander, marigolds, Plumeria and periwinkle even if you can keep it trimmed. If you are inclined to create a vegetable garden, then you can choose lemons, tomatoes, chillies, ajwain and cucumbers. These plants do not take much space to grow and require little to no maintenance almost.

Economising on the space allotted to plants

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Because your garden is most likely to be in your balcony, terrace or window-sill, you need to decide upon the kinds of pots and bases you will use on your Navi Mumbai property. For instance, you can plant flowering shrubs in a window-box which can be filled with mud. The plants can be placed equidistant from one another. You can also choose terracotta or plastic pots with perforations at the bottom for draining excess water.

Tending to plants for vertical growth

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Certain plants such as sunflowers tend to grow vertically which will considerably take care of the absence of horizontal space in your home. You can also keep pruning the plants so that they grow vertically rather than horizontally.

Be creative with designing your garden

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What lacks in variety can be made up with innovation in flower pots. Rather than going for conventional terracotta flower pots of burnt brick colour, you can paint funny pictures or bright patterns on them to make them look attractive. Opt for contrasting colours so that the colour of the pots, don’t clash with that of the flowers. You can also cut a plastic bottle into half and wrap it with colourful cloths and then use it for placing plants. Make sure you pierce two holes for draining the excess water.

Use simple mulch for tending to your plants

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You need not buy expensive chemical fertilizers for keeping your plants lush and green. You can add used tea leaves or manure to the base of these plants to make them grow well. Dig up soil a little to aerate it for the roots.

New projects in Navi Mumbai often have terrace gardens where you can grow Bonsai and other ornamental plants. If yours is not one of them, you can always try these techniques out to simulate the experience of gardening.

Almost 50 Lakhs of Delhi’s unauthorised colony’s residents can now cheer up, as the New Delhi Government has announced the registration of properties in such colonies. Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has issued the road-map to finalise the boundaries for 1650 unauthorised colonies, among which 800 are previously regularised. All those colonies which came into existence till June 1, 2014 are eligible for the registration, and the cutoff date for buildings is January 1, 2015.

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This much awaited news of the major development has brought immense relief to the people residing or own a property in unauthorised colonies. Now they can get their properties registered and enjoy the benefits of registered colonies, such as proper electricity, water, road and drainage facilities. Being unauthorised, these colonies earlier didn’t see much of property transaction. But with the registration process in place and development of infrastructure, the unauthorised property sector will experience hike in the price range. Also, these colonies will be an added option for the prospective home buyers both in terms of new properties as well as resale properties. Moreover, this step might also welcome availability of home loans in these colonies, which will be another added good news for the buyers.

However, as a part of this new initiative the government will regularly seek a report from the concerned department regarding the process of fixation of the boundaries, that is suppose to be done using modern scientific methods like total solution and satellite methods. Once the boundaries are fixed the registration process will get started.

This process will be further followed by sending maps to the various municipal corporations of the particular regions to prepare the layout plan. After the layouts are prepared, those will be sent to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the change in land use. Both the process of land use changed and the layout plan will be done simultaneously, to avoid the delay in the process of property registration. The agencies which will be responsible for the boundary demarcation have been already identified, stated Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia to the media.

Every project brochure nowadays bears a detailed floor plan, marking the spots for kitchen, bathroom and rooms in an apartment. These plans are made available for studio and 1RK flats even as conscious buyers demand to see them. Most of the house floor plans are available on property portals as a separate page or downloadable document. Each room is colour coded to aid property hunters visualise them better.

A lot of buyers rely in floor plans more than pictures of the property or creative visualisations. The floor plan is more concrete as it has numbers backing the design. Buyers can imagine the layout better and also judge whether the apartment is Vaastu compliant or not. Seeing the rooms one beside the other aid them in ascertaining whether it meets their requirements. In fact, many buyers do not consider those properties that do not have a floor plan on offer.

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Here is how a floor plan works better than images or stock modelling.

1. It assists a buyer in visualising how the house looks and whether it is worth the visit. Relative sizes, room flow along with layout are some of the factors that buyers take into consideration. Family buyers in particular would not want to visit sites which do not conform to their needs.

2. The floor plan allows you to visualise the changes that you may want in the property. If you want to remove or put up a particular wall or install an en suite, the floor plan is essential in visualising these changes.

3. Floor plans make a house look larger. When you look at photos, you may overlook a part of the house or not be able to deduce how big it exactly is. This is particularly true for lofts, boxrooms or storage rooms which are not going to be used every day. By looking at the floor plan, it would be hard for you to be omitted and can add perceived value through it.

Despite single floor house plans being essential, there are several ways in which they can deter buyers from considering the property. Some of them are:

1. Absence of measurements- Floor plans are sometimes drawn up without the measurement of rooms which makes it difficult for a buyer to imagine the dimensions. They are also written with the written description of the project which makes it difficult for a buyer to understand and hence it loses its context.

2. A compass market is often missed out of the plan which incapacitates buyers from imagining the garden, front of the house and faces.

3. The overall square footage is often missing which prevents a buyer from comparing a particular property with others. Buyers cannot assess their money’s worth when this essential detail is missing. Nowadays, the numbers of configurations that can be fitted in a particular area are numerous hence knowing the overall square foot area is a must for all homes.

As a buyer, you should look for the best builder floor plans in India, in the property’s brochure and perhaps download it separately to ensure clarity. It would help you take a better decision.

With the announcement of tax clarity for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (INViTs) in the Budget 2015, stock exchanges are all set to allow listings of the two trusts. The inclusion of two trusts is believed to help in channelising the domestic and international investments in the country’s real estate market.

However, SEBI in September 2014, has already notified about listing norms for REITs, in order to attract funds with transparency towards the real estate sector. Followed by the announcement in the budget, BSE is the first one that has already geared itself to finalise norms required for the listing. Ashish Kumar Chauhan, CEO & MD of BSE stated in the media that BSE will first review the variations made in the budget before finalising the norms. There will be few issuers and developers who will be ready to list their units in the coming 12 months. These units will be same as mutual funds, wherein the investors can buy them and the units listed can be traded on the real-time basis, offering a smooth and hassle free exposure to the investors.

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Finance minister, Mr Arun Jaitley has stated in the budget that there will be no capital gains tax, over the transfer of the assets from the developer to the trust and the trust comes along with the pass through status. Though there are a few interpretations related to pass through that is required to be clarified, but still many real estate players are deciding to enter the market with their REITs. Such as DLF have planned to launch REITs and also other developers like Embassy Office Parks in Bangalore and Parsvnath.

This initiative will help in releasing a large amount of funds that has been locked in various projects, which in turn will help the real estate sector in the country to revive itself from the huge debt it has been into from the past couple of years.

However, REITs are the investment routes which are already present in the markets of Japan, UK, US, Hong Kong and Singapore and now it has been introduced in the Indian market as well, to encourage transparency in the unorganised real estate sector. REITs and INViTs are like the other securities which can be listed and traded.

Along with Bangalore, Pune has been identified as one of the preferred destination to invest and buy property in India or even to stay. Its close proximity to Mumbai, has attracted several corporate houses, IT companies and educational institutions to get established in Pune, which in turn has encouraged a huge population from different regions. Being a rapidly developing and evolving city, it is less expensive and offers all sorts of convenience and facilities like Mumbai.

Though the main city is saturated, yet the suburbs offer a good property option to buy or invest with better appreciation value. The suburbs are also a good option for rental purpose as the rents are comparatively less for being away from the city. These areas are well connected with the city and are equipped with all modern amenities. This is why not only the main city of Pune, but its suburbs also buzz with new residential developments to meet the demand of the buyers and are experiencing an extraordinary growth in the real estate sector. Thus, if anyone wants to shift to Pune where the main city is already flooded, then he/she can opt for Pune properties in the suburbs which offers the best option at a good price.

However, the establishment of the corporate hubs is one of the main reasons for the real estate growth. The IT sector offers good remunerations to its employees, which has changed the spending power of the residents who comes from different parts of the country. This has further transformed the property sector into an affordable one, making it easier for the workforce shifting there or the students who have moved into the city for study purpose to own, invest or rent a property.

This increase in the population has led to rise in demand of properties and has also Pune market more affordable. Also, several huge infrastructure developments in the pipeline such as proposed international airport and metro rail plan are a delight for the developers and for the residents, buyers, investors and those who want to relocate by renting. Overall, localities near the commercial sector or IT hubs have been witnessing the maximum demand in terms of both rented or owned accommodation.

Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has recently approved Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in the capital. TOD zone refers to the mixed-use of land for development, and high-density zone, that comprises of high rise buildings. Mixed-use of land means all the basic necessities starting from grocery stores are located at a very close proximity to the residential complexes, so that the residents don’t have to use transport to buy the useful utilities. Moreover, the zone lies on both the sides of the metro line within 500 meters of area, enabling the residents residing in that zone to get everything within a walking distance.

Interestingly, this initiative will benefit the property market of Delhi in a huge way. This step will increase the property prices due to the convenience factor attached to it and will also rise number of new properties for sale in Delhi. It will also balance the demand and supply of the Delhi real estate market, as the development of flats in Delhi for sale will cater to the huge housing demand from the end users and investors’ side.

However, according to the policy, anyone having a minimum of one hectare land is eligible to submit his redevelopment plan, by meeting the specific criteria of keeping a definite 40% built up area, 20% of the space dedicated for the road and another 20% for the development of green spaces.

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A Senior Official of DDA stated in the media that the main focus of this plan is to encourage more of pedestrian drive. The zone will have 1 BHK apartment and the building will consist of shops meant for daily groceries and other items.

In addition to maximize women’s safety, the planners are planning buildings without boundary walls or separated area, to improve the ground visibility, reduce the number of lonely back lanes and corners. Also, as there will be a high density of people living on a less land, so a certain amount of area will be left free for recreational activities and parks and development of more hospitals and colleges will be encouraged along with a water recycling system.

Being the largest commercial and industrial market in the country, Chennai is growing at a steady pace. With the increase in the number of IT companies, education and automobile sectors along with other major industry players venturing into the state, the economic and social infrastructure has developed immensely, that has further led to the rise in the real estate market in Chennai.

Interestingly, the real estate sector in the city has been experiencing the rise in property demand from the end user side. This change in demand is due to the establishment of various MNCs, corporate headquarters as well as several manufacturing and machinery units. The establishments have further increased the standard of living, average cost of capital of the city and the purchase power of the inhabitants.

The demand mostly comes from the professionals working in the corporate sector and then from the self employed professionals. In terms of housing preference, apartments wins the race. Apartment ranging between Rs 30 to Rs 50 lakh is seen mostly to be in demand.

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Areas like Mylapore, Perumbakkam, Poonamallee, Porur, Ashok Nagar, Perambure, OMR road are witnessing a high demand in the property. With notable developers such as Tata Housing, Case Grande Private Limited, Pacifica Group and many more offering best-in-class properties like Tata Santorini, Casa Grande Cherry Pick, PacificaAurum among others, located at prime location in an attractive price range and equipped with the best required amenities and utilities, buyers are more interested in buying properties for staying purpose.

However, it is quite prominent that the city is in its expansion mode with some major plans in the pipeline to develop the infrastructure. The strategy of setting up smart cities, along with forthcoming Mass Rapid Transit System, Metro connectivity as well as the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor project, all of these will work in favour of the rising sentiments of the Chennai real estate market. This evolving strategy for development will also encourage job opportunities, referring to the rise in earnings and most prospective home buyers. Therefore the developers can definitely expect an increasing number of end users for the housing demand.

The much awaited Delhi election is likely to fetch a lot of positive developing features in Delhi. With one of the main agenda of this election to make this city worth of living, Delhi real estate industry plays a crucial role in this. To initiate towards this step, the government need to focus on developing infrastructure, improving the basic amenities and smoothed the legal processes to encourage new projects in Delhi property market as well as buyer’s sentiments to buy those projects. In return , all these steps will also help in improving the current state of property in Delhi.

Here are the few factors which can be fruitful for the Delhi real estate sector.

Strengthening Urban Infrastructure

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In a bid to make Delhi a ‘world’ class city, the urban infrastructure needs a major boost and upgradation in terms of proper water facility, traffic control system, flyovers, free wi-fi along with proper women safety. This measure counts big way in developing in real estate sector in any place. Better arrangements for healthcare, installation of CCTVs for security purpose along with proper transportation facility also add on to these points. If all these factors are taken care of and are implemented, then Delhi can be an ideal choice for prospective buyers, investors and real estate developers.

Regularising of Unauthorised Colonies

In today’s time there are a large number of people who are not able to buy property due to high price range. But as the government has already announced the plan for regularising several unauthorised colonies, prospective home buyers can take a sigh of relief in terms of the price. Then the regularisation will enable home loans as well in the unauthorised colonies, which will be again beneficial for the buyers to invest in those areas. This initiative will also be a step forward in PM’s vision for ‘Housing for All by 2022. Also, if the norms in property registration are further relaxed and the process is made easier, then nothing can better for the Both parties.

Clean and healthy Delhi

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Moreover, extending PM’s another mission to make India clean named as ‘Swacch Bharat’, the government needs to build effective sewage and drainage system to prevent water logging and to promote hygiene along with waste management and toilets in every home. These are the basic requirements for any buyer to buy their dream home and an essential factor responsible for the growth of real estate sector.

Lastly, it is needless to say that if the government can put an extra effort to look at all these concerns, in order to make Delhi at par with the international standards, then the real estate industry will get a boost and every citizen can have their own home.

‘Green’ seems to be the latest buzz word, in the real estate scenario. Developers are making green homes and green centric complexes. However, basically Green Homes refers to the environment friendly and sustainable homes, which focuses on using environmentally friendly or recycled materials and appliances such as paints and also make use of energy and water efficiently. The main concept of the green homes remains to conserve energy, improve the air quality inside the house and producing less waste. It is also one step forward to keep the planet safe.

What to do?

In order to achieve this you can buy energy-efficient appliances, replacing plastic with paper or using specific kinds of materials which help in balancing the cold and hot air inside the home. These might be a bit on the costly side, but there are a few changes which will not hurt your pocket that much. Making a green home will also lead to some changes in your lifestyle, but the change will be definitely healthier for you and your family.

Lighting
Starting with lighting, you can replace normal bulbs with LED bulbs. Normal bulbs are responsible for electricity wastage and creates lots of heat, which in turn increases the room temperature and results in more usage of fans and air conditioners. Whereas opting LED bulbs will be a good decision because it saves energy, last longer, creates less heat and saves a lot in your electricity bill.

Basic restructuring

Then you can mount a low-flow toilet as with every flush it helps in saving 12 to 15 liters (approximately) water. Next, you can fit your water taps with an aerator, a great method for water conservation. It basically does not let the water stream splash, saving almost half the water getting wasted during normal consumption.

Paint
Most of our houses are not equipped with Eco-friendly paints due to lack of knowledge or the high cost involved. But the cheap grade of paints the we usually have in our houses consists of harmful chemicals and other unhealthy constituents, which leads to carious infections and allergies. Thus, you should choose water based paints or those which does not comprise of Volatile Organic Compound (VOC). These paints nowadays are easily available in any store.

Following these measures that can help to make your home more green friendly and moreover can keep your family healthy and more closer to the nature.